Barriers to Agricultural

Technology Adoption in
Developing Countries, and the
Potential Role of Biofortification
Alan de Brauw
Markets Trade and Institutions Division, International Food Policy Research Institute
and Flagship Leader, Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (CGIAR)
How can we better nourish 9 billion?

 Food availability is not a problem, nor is it likely to be

 In fact, there is a great deal of untapped agricultural potential in
specific regions
 Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of South Asia, Cambodia
 More important is what kind of food will be available
 More nutritious crops need to be more available
 More nutritious crops now include biofortified crops– staple crops
bred for additional micronutrients
Major Grain Availability in the World, 2012

Total Production Daily Calories per

Crop
(MMT) Capita
Rice 720 1014

Wheat 670 865

Maize 872 1092

TOTAL 2971

Data from FAOStat; assumed population of 7 billion

Even with plenty of calorie “availability”…

 Untapped Productivity Potential in Several Parts of the World

 But at current price levels and trends there is a large
underinvestment in more nutritious foods
Untapped Productivity: Evidence on Average
Yields (t/ha)
Maize Rice Wheat

World 4.9 4.4 3.1

Africa 2.0 2.5 2.4

South Asia 2.7 3.5 2.8

Data from FAO Stat

Untapped Productivity in sub-Saharan Africa
and elsewhere
ISR
JOR

12
NLD
BEL

Logarithm, Average Maize Yield, 2009

CHL NZL AUTCHE
USA
ESP DEU
GRC
CZE FRA
ITACAN
EGY MUS SVN
SAU
TJK IRN TURHRV
UZB HUN SVKPRT
KGZ POL LUX
BGD ARM
SRB ALB MYS ARG KOR AUS

11
PNG UKR CHN
BIH ZAF
LAO AZE
MKD
KHMVNM IDN SYR KAZBGR
BLR
THA LTU
PAK RUS
MDVBRAVEN
LBN
MLI DZA
ROM VCTMEX TTO
SLV
PER
BLZ URY
BOL
PHL COL BRB
LKA
GEOPRY GAB LBY JPN
MWI
ETH NPLCOM
ZMB
CIV
NGA IRQ BTNECU NAM CRI BHS
10 IND
TMP CMRGUY GTM
RWA SUR
TGOGHASDN NIC HNDFSM PAN ATG
BFAUGASEN
YEM CUB
DOM
DMA
BEN
KEN
GMB JAM
GNB MDG TZA DJI SWZTKM
BDI GRD
SLEMOZ
NERCAF
ZAR HTI
MRT COG
9

AGOMAR
VUTFJI
ZWE
LSO

BWA
8

CPV

4 6 8 10 12
Logarithm, GDP per Capita, 2009
From recent National Geographic
How to improve agricultural technology
adoption?

 World Agricultural production is not close to reaching its potential

 Particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa
 Even without any new technology, world production could be much
higher
 Need is to induce farmers to switch from traditional varieties of
crops to modern varieties
 But how?
Question 1: Is it profitable for farmers to
grow modern varieties?
 Suri (2011) built a framework allowing heterogenous
returns to growing hybrids, finds:
 Group of farmers with high potential returns, not
growing hybrids, but high cost of obtaining seeds and
fertilizer (so they don’t)
 Another group with positive but lower returns grows
hybrids
 Others do not grow hybrids all the time, have
essentially zero returns
 New question: how can modern varieties be made
profitable for smallholder farmers?
10 Challenges for Adoption
(ATAI)
1. Lack of Information 6. Externalities
2. Risk and Uncertainty 7. Coordination Failures
3. Lack of Finance 8. Distribution Problems
4. Labor Market Problems 9. Lack of appropriateness
5. Land Market Problems 10. Distorted Prices
Technologies not Appropriate

 Farmers may have different preferences than policy-

makers/breeders
 Policy makers may be too risk averse in approving new
 Available technology may not be right for marginal land, etc.
 Profits may actually be variable to higher yielding varieties of
appropriate crops
 Taste, cultivation attributes may also matter
 Can potentially include drought/heat resistance
Intervention Ideas : Appropriate Technologies

 More Participatory Breeding? (Walker, 2008)

 But lack of evidence this could be cost effective
 Need to consider gender in developing interventions for appropriate
technologies
 Women often lack same access to improved seeds, inputs (even within
households in west Africa)
 Difficult to predict the gender distributional consequences of new
technologies targeted to women (e.g. von Braun, 1989)
 May be a need for different types of technologies as well
Average Yield Increases, Selected Crops
(1961=100)
300

250

200

150

100

50

Maize Dry Peas Vegetables Rice

 Percent Changes in Cereal and Pulse
Production, and in Population, 1965-1999
Grains Pulses Population
250

200
150
100
50
0

Developing

Developing
Developing
India
India

World
Bangladesh
Bangladesh

Pakistan
Pakistan
 Evidence: Shares of daily calorie consumption
by food groups
Ideal US China Bangladesh
Starchy Staples 48 31 49 80

Legumes & 22 5 3 4
Nuts
Animal & Fish 10 14 20 4
Products
Fruits & 9 7 9 2
Vegetables
Fats & Sugars 11 43 19 10
Total Calories 2200 Too many Too many Too few

Source for “Ideal” shares: Thompson and Meerman, FAO, 2013

New Idea: Value Chains for Enhanced
Nutrition
 Idea: Intervene in Value Chains to improve the consumption of
nutritious crops
 Legumes; Vegetables/Fruits; Animal Source Foods
 Income increases are not sufficient to improve diet
 Policies sometimes promote production of grains at the expense of
healthier products
 Interventions should work through prices (reductions); income; or
information
 Should consider food safety as intervention is designed if warranted
 Value Chain

Possible
Interventions

Buyers
(Middlemen),
Inputs Farmer Consumer
Processors,
Sellers

Financing
Value Chains for Enhanced Nutrition:
Example
 IFPRI Project: Laiterie du Berger (LB) in St Louis, Senegal buys milk from semi-
nomadic herders in northern Senegal to produce yogurt and a fortified yogurt
product called Thiakry
 Milk availability is seasonal– LB has to import powder to make Thiakry
 Population producing yogurt is highly anemic
 To try to regularize milk collection and improve iron status of population, an
intervention offered Thiakry for children when specific producers met collection
targets
 Preliminary result: Reduced anemia by 11 percentage points but not clear it is
cost effective
New Technology: Biofortification

 Idea Behind Biofortification (HarvestPlus): Breed essential micronutrients

(vitamin A, iron, zinc) right into staple crops
 Vitamin A Orange Sweet Potato (Mozambique, Uganda)
 High Iron Beans (Rwanda)
 Vitamin A Cassava (Nigeria)
 High Iron Pearl Millet (India)
 Vitamin A (Orange) Maize (Zambia)
 Others on the way
 Lack of micronutrients greatly contributes to deaths among under 5s
due to malnutrition and hinders child development
HarvestPlus release varieties should…

 Have enough of the target micronutrient to make a difference in

nutritional status;
 Be bioavailable;
 Yield at least as well as varieties farmers use, among test
populations;
 Taste good (according to local populations)
 Methods: HarvestPlus REU (2006-2009)

 Introduced OSP to farmers in 2007 in Mozambique and Uganda through

vine distribution and sales
 Accompanied by both agricultural and nutrition extension in both
countries
 And marketing intervention to attempt to build marketing chain
 Impacts measured with Randomized Control Trial; baseline and
endline; detailed dietary intake study
 Goal of project: Demonstrate reduction in vitamin A deficiency in both
countries
Primary Findings (2009): Vitamin A Deficiency

Mozambique Uganda

Control Mothers
Control Children
Treated Mothers

Control Children
Treated Children
Treated Children

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Baseline Endline Baseline Endline
Additional Findings – “Medium Term”
Surveys
 In Uganda, about half of those growing orange sweet potato still
growing them in 2011
 In Mozambique, less success continuing to grow them by 2012
 BUT…
 Also find a statistically significant difference between vitamin A
intakes among one treatment group and the control in 2012 (mothers
and children)
 Can attribute difference to OFSP consumption
Summary and Directions for Research

 Major grains are actually quite available and likely will be in 2050
 However, there is need for additional investment in breeding on two
levels
 Traditional, more nutritious crops (pulses and legumes;
vegetables)
 Yield gains have lagged those of major grains
 Further effort on biofortified crops in future to fill in micronutrient
gaps